Battle, n., A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would not yield to the tongue.
Ambrose BierceNOUMENON, n. That which exists, as distinguished from that which merely seems to exist, the latter being a phenomenon. The noumenon is a bit difficult to locate; it can be apprehended only by a process of reasoning - which is a phenomenon.
Ambrose BierceINGRATE, n. One who receives a benefit from another, or is otherwise an object of charity.
Ambrose BiercePROVIDENTIAL, adj. Unexpectedly and conspicuously beneficial to the person so describing it.
Ambrose BierceSabbath - a weekly festival having its origin in the fact that God made the world in six days and was arrested on the seventh.
Ambrose BiercePOTABLE, n. Suitable for drinking. Water is said to be potable; indeed, some declare it our natural beverage, although even they find it palatable only when suffering from the recurrent disorder known as thirst, for which it is a medicine. Upon nothing has so great and diligent ingenuity been brought to bear in all ages and in all countries, except the most uncivilized, as upon the invention of substitutes for water. To hold that this general aversion to that liquid has no basis in the preservative instinct of the race is to be unscientific-and without science we are as the snakes and toads.
Ambrose Bierce